The currency for healthy relationships every leader should invest into its team daily, is trust. How can trust be built — or shattered?

As a first-time founder and COO back in the days, unexpected team dynamics and ever-rising workload heavily weighed on me. 5 years into that startup, I burnt out.

Years later and until today, I am regularly asked as a speaker on stage: “How did you get into and out of the burnout slump?”

Answering this curious and crucial question marks the important moment the audience gains trust in me:

I completely open up.
I share what truly happened.
I become vulnerable.

Vulnerability is no weakness at all. It’s a fix to broken, suspicious relationships.

Still, there are corporate cultures and behavior dynamics of leaders towards teams that stop us from being vulnerable — as we don’t feel emotionally safe to share:

A leader that controls everything and everyone, at any time. Putting her/his will into action – and by that killing the self-initiative, creativity and self-confidence of others as “s/he knows the best plan to succeed”.

A leader that needs her/his ever-growing success and acknowledgement by others. S/he pushes a team “up to the summit”, hyper-achieving along the way. The team feels used over time. Trust is shattered too, as promises made “to get to the summit“ didn’t come true.

A leader that is stuck in her/his hyper-rational mind and logic — running facts, numbers and figures about a problem, being unable to be present and engage. This leader doesn‘t feel emotionally available to a team — it doesn’t feel seen. Lacking intuition, these leaders miss out on a key-ingredient for decision making as well as trust by others.

What do you take away on the topic of trust?
Share along, [email protected].

Photo credit: Kasia Sosulski / aws First Incubator

Author(s)

  • Eva Gruber

    Positive Thinking & Leadership. — Mindset & Habit Coach. Business Advisor. Speaker.

    Eva Gruber enables leaders and organizations to think, act and lead positively - as a positive mind achieves goals and change with more ease and impact. As neuro-science shows that "our mind can be our best friend, but also our worst enemy", Eva Gruber skills leaders and teams to: Become curious again. Practice empathy. Apply their intuition. Innovate with ease. Take action. Based in Austria and having founded 3 impact-ventures herself, Eva Gruber guides organizations and leaders in Europe and globally as a Mindset & Habit Coach, Business Advisor and inspirational Speaker. Connect on LinkedIn.